Aaron Faver’s seventh period Government class was looking to another day of note-taking and lectures on Wednesday, Oct. 12. Instead, these seniors came into physical contact with the history they had only read about with a special visit from the Remnant Trust.

Dr. David Baum visited Randall High School to share some of West Texas A&M University’s collection of centuries-old works from the Remnant Trust with students who were learning about the significance these documents hold in today’s government.

“I think it’s a novel thing the Remnant Trust is doing,” Baum said. “Being brought to the Panhandle has given me the opportunity to engage in the community.”

Having grown up attending museums where they were told not to touch artifacts, the students were only inattentive to the presentation when they had an ancient manuscript sitting in front of them which they were free to explore. Senior Austin Castillo said the experience amazed him.

“I was in awe to hold the actual document we read about in our textbooks,” Castillo said.

Twelve documents and books were passed around the room, each rich in substance and age, ranging from a Gutenberg Bible to a 1344 Magna Carta that had been carried around by a judge as a reference book. Baum described it as a “traveling law library.”

“This would have been everything the judge needed,” Baum instructed. “You can even see his writing in the margins.”

Faver, who also made many comments about the historical significance of the books, described the learning opportunity for his students as revolutionary.

“[The visit] is important to the deepening of understanding for students,” Faver said. “It opens their minds to wondering things like, ‘Who held this book before me?’”

He continued to point out the importance of using the books as a learning tool.

“I can read the Bible on my phone,” Faver said. “But a King James Bible from the 1400’s is different in that it changes the experience, not the words themselves.”

As a scholar in residence, Baum has big plans for the Remnant Trust’s documents, which debuted at WT last school year. He said he wants to make the books and documents available not only to WT students and faculty, but also to the public by eventually integrating documents into school curricula.

“I would like the whole Panhandle to have access to these books,” Baum said. “They would be the only students in America learning in their classrooms off primary documents.”

As for the estimated monetary worth of the documents, Baum said their true value was in the ideas they contained, which he likened to a pamphlet containing the Gettysburg Address.

“I have no idea how much [money] the pamphlet is worth,” Baum said.  “But these 272 words are sure worth a lot.”